TOPIC:“Let the Wind of Worship Blow”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:John 4:24
“God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth”
There can be no denying of the basic truth that most Americans desperately need to recapture a spirit of genuine Christian worship in their lives. Any Gallup Poll relevant to the subject would reveal that the overwhelming majority of people who make up our congregations know absolutely nothing of what it means to pour out their souls in spiritual worship to God.
To get the force of what I mean, give ear to the words of A. W. Tozer writing in the Alliance Witness some years ago. In an article entitled, Created to Worship, he states: “The mightiest calamity that has visited the world is that we have lost our worship…And the church, the poor church! We have banquets, we have conferences, we have Sunday Schools, we have morning worship and evening gospel services - we have everything. We're the busiest crowd of little eager beavers that ever tramped around over the American soil. But we are not worshipers. There is scarcely a church service where we can feel the Spirit of worship.”
That statement alone, I believer, shows how pitifully few there are who realize that they were actually created by God for the purpose of worshiping Him. It seems clear, then, that for every Christian it is essential for them to catch something of the heavenly breeze of worship as it blows through our sanctuaries by the Spirit of God. We must set our sails to capture the wind of worship as it bends its way through the corridors of our churches. If I may borrow the pointed language of Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: “I have a little plant in my heart called worship and I find that it needs watering about once a week.” For evangelical Christians, I believe, it should be more than that.
And that, if I am not mistaken, is the main reason why we attend church. To pour out our souls in spiritual worship. The wind or worship is blowing. May its gentle breeze fall on us.
I.
As we begin, let us think briefly about some of the DEFINITIONS which have been given to this word worship. It is most important to be crystal clear on the meaning of worship, since all men everywhere worship God by one means or another.
I have in my library an abridged dictionary. Under the word worship it says “to pay an adoring reverence or regard to God.” That sounds good, but I wonder if we might not be able to get a more intimate and personal definition . . .